Only Saudis can work in Kingdom’s malls under new rules

People walk in 'The Mall of Dhahran', Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on December 17, 2018. (Reuters)
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Updated 08 April 2021
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Only Saudis can work in Kingdom’s malls under new rules

  • Human Resources and Social Development Minister Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi said changes would mean jobs for 51,000 Saudi men and women
  • Gulf governments are extending localization programs across industries that have in the past relied heavily on expatriates

RIYADH: The Kingdom’s shopping malls must only hire Saudis under new labor rules.

Human Resources and Social Development Minister Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi issued three new labor directives that are set to transform the country’s retail and restaurant sector.

The changes would mean jobs for 51,000 Saudi men and women, he said in a statement.

Gulf governments, under pressure to provide more jobs for citizens amid declining oil revenues, are extending localization programs across industries that have in the past relied heavily on expatriates.

The first directive stipulated that only Saudis would be able to work in “closed commercial complexes (malls)” and their management offices.

A limited number of roles would be exempt, but the ministry did not specify which ones.

The other rule changes were related to raising the number of Saudis working in the restaurant, cafe and catering trade.

The statement did not specify what the new localization rates would be across these sectors.

It is the latest government move to boost the number of Saudis in the workforce.


Saudi student Mohammed Al-Qasim ‘stabbed by stranger on drink, drugs,’ UK court hears

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Saudi student Mohammed Al-Qasim ‘stabbed by stranger on drink, drugs,’ UK court hears

  • 20-year-old ‘posed no threat to anybody’ when he was attacked in Cambridge last year
  • Jurors watch CCTV video of attack by man in high-vis jacket, BBC reports

LONDON: Saudi student Mohammed Al-Qasim died after being stabbed in Cambridge by a stranger who had been drinking and using drugs, prosecutors told a court in the UK city on Tuesday.

According to a BBC News website report of the trial at Cambridge Crown Court, prosecutor Nicholas Hearn said that the 20-year-old was sitting outside student accommodation on Aug. 1 last year when he was stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife by Chas Corrigan.

CCTV cameras had recorded the attack along with Corrigan’s actions before and after the incident, he said.

Al-Qasim, a University of Jeddah student who had traveled to the UK to study at a language school during the summer, died just after midnight on Aug. 2.

Jurors watched CCTV video footage of the attack, which showed Al-Qasim running away after a confrontation with a man in a yellow high-vis jacket, the BBC report said.

The footage showed Corrigan, who was wearing the jacket, stabbing Al-Qasim, Hearn said.

“The reality is that, in this case, the footage speaks for itself,” he told the jurors.

Hearn said that Corrigan, 22, from Cambridge, had admitted being in possession of a knife at the time but denied murdering Al-Qasim.

Hearn said there was evidence that Corrigan had been drinking and taking drugs before the stabbing and had been “behaving crazily” in a pub.

“Mr Al-Qasim posed no threat to anybody. He was a student who had come to Cambridge to study from Saudi Arabia,” the lawyer said.

Hearn added that “the defendant was the aggressor here,” and that Al-Qasim had never met Corrigan.

Jane Osborne KC, Corrigan’s defense lawyer, said that her client had admitted he was the man in the CCTV video and that he had been carrying the knife, but had “no intention of using that knife,” the BBC report said.

Corrigan had aimed to wave the knife between himself and Al-Qasim, she said.

Corrigan denies murdering Al-Qasim and his trial is expected to last about two weeks.